Withholding Deliverables in ED Corruption Case

The Inspector General's investigation into the charges of covert propaganda by the Dept. of Education is sort of like Bush investigating the failure of the Federal response to Katrina. According the Inspector General (of ED), for the Dept. to have been guilty of covert propaganda, it would have had to specifically hire an outside organization to conduct the dirty work that law prevented it from doing itself. That doesn't sound very covert to me.

There is good reason to suspect that the more overt of the covert was never seen by the Inspector General because Maggie and her lawyers did not comply with the request to provide the needed information to make that determination. Here is the list of grantees whose good works for the Department have been lost, or something:

Radio One, Inc. (ED-03-PO-2184)
(FY 03, $10,000)
The contract called for two live readings of a PSA to be broadcast in selected cities. The ED contact did not have audio copies or a written script of the PSAs. We were unable to review any deliverables produced under this contract to determine if they resulted in covert propaganda.

ZGS Communications (ED-98-CO-0012)
(FY 98-02, $1,685,512)
ED was unable to provide us with all statements of work associated with this contract. Additionally, ED could not identify every deliverable produced under this contract. ED was able to provide deliverables for our review, including booklets, informational videos and a CD-ROM that clearly stated that ED was the source. Since we were unable to review all deliverables produced under this contract, we could not determine if they resulted in covert propaganda.

Bauhaus Media Group, Inc. (ED-02-PO-1363)
(FY 02, $14,003)
ED’s file for this contract was incomplete. ED contact did not have the deliverables available for our review. OIG obtained from the contractor a copy of a video for an NCLB event that featured the NCLB logo and footage of Rod Paige and President Bush. Since ED’s file is incomplete we could not be sure if this is a deliverable under this contract.

Bauhaus Media Group, Inc. (ED-02-PO-2815)
(FY 02, $13,011)
The contract called for a video highlighting Secretary Paige, NCLB, and the partnership between ED and the National Council of Negro Women (NCNW). Neither ED nor the contractor had the video deliverable available for our review. Since we were unable to review the deliverable produced under this contract, we could not determine if they resulted in covert propaganda.

Anyone who can provide a copy of any of these materials will be in line for the Schools Matter, Damn It! Award to be given later this year.